Motive the Key Question in Shepard Murder Case

As the second of Matthew Shepard’s accused killers goes on trial today, the key question many are hoping to answer about the killing is why.

In the squat, stone courthouse here, authorities will argue that Aaron McKinney lured Shepard from a bar and, along with an accomplice, robbed and beat the 21-year-old student--finally lashing him to a fence and leaving him to die.

But was it simply a robbery that careened out of control or a vicious hate crime in which Shepard was singled out because he was gay?

McKinney is charged with murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping with intent to inflict bodily injury. If convicted, the 22-year-old high school dropout and former roofer could face the death penalty.

Alleged Accomplice Pleaded Guilty

His alleged accomplice, Russell Henderson, pleaded guilty earlier this year and is serving two consecutive life terms. During his sentencing, Henderson said it was McKinney who dealt the deadly blows. Henderson is scheduled to testify in McKinney’s trial, which is expected to take four weeks.

During jury selection, defense attorney Dion Custis told prospective panel members: “This case is not a question of who committed the crime. We are going to tell you that Aaron McKinney was involved in the death of Matthew Shepard.”

But Custis is expected to argue that McKinney’s history of alcohol and drug abuse affected his judgment. Authorities have said that Henderson and McKinney were on a methamphetamine binge in the days before the murder.

“We are not going to contend that Aaron McKinney was insane at the time,” Custis said. “However, his mental state was a factor.”

Shepard’s death spurred immediate calls across the nation for hate crime legislation. But McKinney’s trial, coming more than a year later, has not captured the same widespread interest as the attack.

Within the gay community, however, the trial will be watched closely.

Waiting to See Defense Strategy

“We’re waiting to see what kind of defense is going to be put on,” said David Elliot, of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force advocacy group, based in Washington, D.C. “Is one side going to argue that this crime should be excused because someone was on methamphetamine? Is there going to be an argument that a pass was made and this is an excuse for murder?”

That controversial legal strategy is known as the “panic defense,” which holds that when a gay man makes an unwanted sexual advance toward a heterosexual man, the discomfort may be so strong as to warrant a violent reaction: humiliation as provocation for murder.

The strategy has been used with mixed results. It was given wide public hearing in the “Jenny Jones” TV show case earlier this year, in which Jonathan Schmitz killed Scott Amedure three days after Amedure told a studio audience at the taping of the talk show that he had a secret crush on Schmitz.

Schmitz was found guilty in a criminal trial, but the verdict was thrown out on a technicality. Schmitz was convicted of the murder for a second time in August.

Trial strategy aside, gay rights groups are hoping that uncovering the motive behind Shepard’s murder will help promote the fight against hate crimes.

“It seems as though the defense is going to paint McKinney in as sympathetic a light as possible,” said David M. Smith of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay and lesbian lobby group. “They are going to take the motive of hate out of the equation. They haven’t even called it a hate crime, and I can say there is no debate in the gay community that it was.”